80 GRAPHIC ORGANIZER TEMPLATES FOR ACTIVE LEARNING

What Is Active Learning?

Active learning is a term used to refer to instructional strategies focused on getting learners to actively process new information such as through reflection, collaboration, writing, and more. Through active learning experiences, learners can retain more information than through passive learning experiences, such as note-taking. It is important that educators implement active learning instructional strategies to improve learning outcomes. For those wanting to learn more about active learning, visit Cornell’s Center for Teaching Innovation.

Using Graphic Organizers for Active Learning (GOAL)

One easy way to incorporate more active learning strategies is through the use of graphic organizers. Earnest Gonzalezs designed a series of free, ready-to-use dual-language resources called 80 “GOALs” or “Graphic Organizers for Active Learning.” The graphic organizer templates are organized into different themes such as problem-solving, collaboration, SEL, writing, and more to simplify the process of finding the exact template needed for lessons. The templates are designed with fun graphics and are meant to be engaging for students.

The Graphic Organizer Templates

Here is the above menu of eight categories of graphic organizers. Each category contains 10 different designs to choose from. The designs are created in Canva. When you click on one of the designs, you’ll notice an option to use the template in Canva, meaning you can customize the template to fit exactly what you need, or you can use it as-is. 

Graphic Organizer Formats

When ready, you can print the graphic organizer for your students as a PDF file, or you can use these files with the ed tech tools of your choice. Since the GOALs are designed in Canva, you can download a PNG or a JPG file in order to place the graphic organizer into popular tools such as Kami, Lumio, Seesaw, Google Classroom, or Schoology. For those educators ready to app smash these templates into ed-tech tools, here is a guide with short video tutorials to help you get started.

As educators, the instructional strategies we implement should seek to make learning more effective. Active learning can do this for our students, but it helps to have the resources we need to get started.